Author Archives: Claire Smith

Claire Smith is a qualified geotechnical engineer and editor of New Civil Engineer magazine, which perfectly combines her industry knowledge with her journalism skills, but she has worked on a wide range of UK and international construction publishing titles which gives her insight into broader construction issues and the role the geotechnics industry plays in these. Claire graduated from University of Portsmouth with a BEng in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics and worked in industry for three years with Peter Brett Associates before moving into construction journalism in 2000. Her journalistic skills were honed by former New Civil Engineer editor Ty Byrd at Barrett Byrd Associates where Claire led work on features and supplements for a number of publications and industry clients, as well as New Civil Engineer, Construction News and Ground Engineering. Since moving into journalism, Claire has helped launch and worked on Aggregates Business Europe and Transportation Professional, and also worked on International Construction, Construction Europe and World Highways magazine before joining New Civil Engineer’s sister title Ground Engineering in 2011 and moving onto New Civil Engineer in early 2020.

Flying start for Finningley

25 Jan, 2001 Leave a comment 127 Views

RAF Finningley was one of the RAF’s busiest stations until it closed in 1996 and now presents an ideal opportunity to create a new regional airport in the North East. Claire Symes reports.

Air travel is rapidly increasing in the UK but with London’s airports approaching capacity the growing demand…

Ready to start spending

30 Nov, 2000 Leave a comment 128 Views

Release of public funds plus substantial private investment is putting a smile back on the face of Scottish civil engineering. Jon Masters, Claire Symes and Mike Walter begin NCE’s special feature by reviewing prospects north of the border.

Scotland’s construction markets, already buoyed by substantial private investment, look likely to…

Leith at leisure

30 Nov, 2000 Leave a comment 153 Views

Derelict areas of Edinburgh’s dockland are being revived in readiness for a royal resident. Claire Symes reports.

With Edinburgh’s Port of Leith still a thriving commercial facility, current redevelopment is not the wholesale transformation of other dockland regeneration schemes. Nevertheless, derelict parts are being turned into prestige waterside developments. Possibly the largest…

Building up reserves

01 May, 2000 Leave a comment 134 Views

Sustainable development may be the key to a conservation dilemma in Vietnam. Claire Symes reports

Why read this Sustainable development in South East Asia New area of work for consultancies Balancing the equation between ecology and the local population Consulting engineer Scott Wilson is currently applying sustainable development philosophy to overcome a conservation predicament in…

Flying squad

01 Mar, 2000 Leave a comment 207 Views

An air crash, land mines and Russian sensitivities combined to make the upgrading of war-torn Pristina airport less than straightforward. Claire Symes reports

Kosovo’s battle scars are nowhere more evident than at the airport in its principal city, Pristina where damage was hindering vital aid activity and the movement of…

Weathering the storm

27 Jan, 2000 Leave a comment 119 Views

Baptism of fire would be a good way to describe Ringway Highway Services’ first winter looking after Kent’s roads, if it were not for the cold and rain. Claire Symes reports.

Apalling weather at Christmas meant that Ringway Highway Services dealt with 150 emergency call-outs in Kent over the holiday period,…

Hole leaves 16 Reading families homeless

20 Jan, 2000 Leave a comment 115 Views

News

SIXTEEN FAMILIES were homeless this week after a crater opened up in a Reading street damaging the carriageway and nearby houses. It is thought the 200m3 hole resulted from the collapse of an old chalk mine or historic fortifications. Reading Borough Council and insurers called in local consulting engineer Peter Brett Associates…